Wednesday, May 25, 2011

More on the Ersland Trial

NewsOK reports
It doesn't sound like things are going too well for old Ersland.

“I did do just what I had to do,” Ersland told the police detective. “It’s not a deal where you have a big choice.”

The detective, David Jacobson, told jurors Ersland gave many details about the shooting that were not true.

The detective testified Ersland also lied when he said he had killed “a lot of people” during the first Gulf War.

The detective testified the pharmacist’s military records show he was never in combat.

Another homicide detective, Ryan Porter, testified Ersland said he wore a back brace because of an artillery attack while he was in Iraq.

Records show Ersland spent the Gulf War in 1991 as the pharmacy chief at the military hospital at Altus Air Force Base in southwestern Oklahoma.

It's one thing to lie about the unarmed black kid you just shot 5 times AFTER he was down, but to lie about your military service doesn't look good at all. Jurors don't like that.

The detective told jurors the police investigation determined only Ingram had a gun and only the pharmacist fired any shots. The detective also testified Ersland shot Parker five more times after chasing the second robber away, coming back to the store and getting a second gun from a drawer.

Are they really saying the teenager with the gun was the one who ran away? "Only Ingram had a gun." Not only was Antwun “Speedy” Parker already shot in the head and incapacitated when Ersland came back to shoot him 5 more times, but the kid never had a gun in the first place.

And here's where the bizarre becomes travesty:

The second robber, Jevontai Ingram, then 14, was arrested days later and has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for his role in the death.

I'm opposed to felony murder in any case, but when it's the criminal's partner who ends up dead it becomes totally nonsensical.